Cross in a Tree Cross-Cut After Tornado

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (WHNT) — Christmas carols about angels have special meaning to a Marshall County woman who says she frequently feels their presence.

Barbara McKinley said she received a sign of the cross after the April 27 tornadoes, when a tree fell in one of her neighbor’s yards, in the Preston Island community.

“After the tornado, he went up to start cutting the tree limbs up and that to haul out to the road to be picked up, and as he was cutting up, when he got into this part of the tree, is when he saw the cross,” McKinley said.

Her neighbor began to cut the same timber looking for more, but McKinley said the cross disappeared after 12 to 15 inches, and she was glad to receive a cross-cut of the cross.

She said some people think this is a hoax, claiming photos are doctored with a computer, or someone drew the cross on this piece of a tree.

“I keep trying to tell everybody God’s trying to tell us something, and we’re not listening.”

Splotches appeared in the middle of several other trees in the area but none were like this.

McKinley believes it and her safety are a sign.

“We’ve had two tornadoes here and my house has never been touched, so I know my angels are watching me,” she said.

Her faith continues to grow as a result of feeling that protection for years.

“My husband’s had two bouts with strokes, and prostate cancer, and he’s fine,” she said.

“I feel my angels are looking are over us, all the time.”

She said the cross is God’s way of saying he is there, too.

Her son made the display case for the cross, along with a wooden plaque which reads:

“this cross came from the middle of a tree limb found after the tornado of april 27, 2001 on hwy 79 in marshall county, al.”